EPGs are commonly used in digital television so that a user can review scheduled television programs. Typically an EPG can be displayed on a television screen, a computer screen or a remote control. An EPG generally includes a list of scheduled television programs over a period of time. The list of television programs in the EPG is typically ranked by the ordinal number of the channel or by genre.
The standard way to render an EPG today is the so-called “grid view” EPG. The grid view EPG consists of a number of rows, each row representing one television channel. The horizontal axis of the grid represents a timeline. In a grid view EPG each program is typically displayed with a width that is proportional to its on-air duration. For example, a programme that runs for 60 minutes may be displayed with a width of 100 pixels, and a programme that's 30 minutes long would thus be displayed with a width of 50 pixels. Thus, as one scrolls a grid-view EPG along the timeline all channels and programs scroll in unison. This approach provides a number of problems for short-duration programmes as they may appear so small in the EPG that programme image, title, description or other pertinent information may be obscured. In addition, parts of the previous and next shows are at most times partially cut off and partially off-screen. The grid-view EPG may also represent an information overload for the user who simply wants to see the list of shows that are on at a given time.
Typically an EPG also includes a functionality to allow a user to examine television programs scheduled at different times. For example, a user can review a list of television programs that are scheduled for the next day at 8 pm. This may be achieved by allowing the user to enter a time and date with a keyboard, or by advancing the EPG by a predetermined time period upon selection of a button on a remote control.
It has been found that conventional tools for changing the time in a displayed EPG can be somewhat inconvenient for users. For example, a user may not always have a keyboard with which to indicate a particular time and/or it may be undesirable to replace or obscure a displayed EPG with a pop-up keyboard. In addition, a simple scrolling button on a remote control offers little flexibility for a user if they want to advance the EPG to a specific point in time.
Another problem with conventional EPGs is that it can be difficult for a user to return the EPG to the current time, after they have been reviewing scheduled programs at another time. An object of the invention is to alleviate some of these problems.